More Astrology stories

I am writing this the morning after the US presidential election and having just read what I wrote last month about the beginning of November, it is clear that the shadow distortions of both wounded masculine and feminine have surfaced in the most disturbing of ways.

In the figure of Trump we have a prime example of these shadows and how they manifest in some men. In the deep sacred feminine and its all-accepting power that does not make distinctions between race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender, distortions of the same power can manifest as misogyny and racism. (It has to be acknowledged that Clinton has her own share of distortions, but they have a different dynamic within her system and are less obvious!)

Clearly, we are in for a rough ride and however traumatised many of my friends are, especially my American friends who are in mourning and planning to leave the country, on another level this is another radical expression of a bigger cosmic force at work.

This is the urge to shatter the status quo that produces so much inequality across the planet, a ruction on a par with the global financial crisis.

Any real healing and transformation demands deep purification, by pushing ancient, toxic residues to the surface and clearly this is in play. The gunk has to rise first before clarity, truth and eventual rebirth. This election can be seen as one huge vomit!

This is most represented astrologically in December by an ongoing conjunction of the Black Moon, Kali and Hygeia, a hyper-powerful joining of these great powers in Scorpio and receiving chaotic, radicalising aspects from Uranus in Aries and Pallas Athena in Aquarius. As I said last month, though, these very same aspects represent opportunities within each of us for deeper healing and the releasing of ancient debris.

And there are points of light alongside these momentous challenges.

The Sun in Sagittarius, a sign that has the capacity to pierce into the truth and act on it, is conjunct Juno, the traditional goddess of marriage who seeks unity between masculine and feminine. Already there are voices for mass prayer and healing circles for uniting fractured communities.

However, the Sun in June is squaring a complex conjunction of Neptune, Medusa and Eros, so the urge towards unification will come into conflict with unconscious forces of contaminated and toxic sexuality leaking out into the collective. While we can expect a rise in sexism, and a reinvigoration of hard-core feminism, the same aspects can give us access to sexual trauma and wounds of inequality, whether personal or transgenerational, that sabotage the development of our relationships and capacity for ever deepening intimacy.

To complicate things further, the conjunction of Neptune, Medusa and Eros is also lined up with the South Node of the Moon, highlighting deep karmic origins of these regurgitations coming from historical and past life sources. The intensity and multidimensionality of this makes it really important for psychically sensitive individuals to take good care of themselves, with regular meditation and appropriate psychic protection mechanisms.

And indeed if we are disturbed by what’s going on in the outer world, it’s important to acknowledge the world as a mirror and take responsibility for those unhealed parts of self that do, however subtly, contribute to the collective challenges. And while this demands different forms of inner work, this should not be seen as justification for not engaging with the world’s problems, in whatever localised ways we can.

And indeed if we are disturbed by what’s going on in the outer world, it’s important to acknowledge the world as a mirror...

Obviously, we need to guard against despair at times like this so it’s good to know there is some absolutely brilliant patterning in this month’s astrology as well. Once again the month begins immediately after a new moon. While the Moon itself is conjunct Saturn in Sagittarius, a sobering connection that can drift towards depression, it is the source of an energising interplay with sextiles to Mars and Pallas in Aquarius, trines to Uranus and Ceres in Aries and sextiles to Jupiter, Parvati and Shiva altogether in Libra!

A Sun, Saturn, Moon conjunction in Sagittarius sextiling Mars and Pallas Athena in Aquarius is a dynamic, focused and impassioned combination for getting into the truth of things and acting upon them. Both Sagittarius and Aquarius are driven to contribute positively to the collective good with a mixture of inspiration and action, a perfect antidote to the voices of despair.

The same combination trining Uranus is a high voltage, higher octave of the same urge and supports us to see the opportunities that come when the old stagnant status quo is breaking up.

The divisions between the economic and political elite and the rest of humanity are an anathema to the authority challenging Aries, the humanitarianism of Aquarius and Sagittarius and the urges towards higher individual freedom inherent in Uranus.

On the relationship front, Venus is conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, another phase of deep shifts in our relating, radicalised in turn by a square to Uranus with further upheavals towards greater individual expression. However, Venus and Pluto also sextile the Black Moon, Hygeia, Kali conjunction, offering tremendous opportunities for lower chakra healing and bringing a penetrating honesty to our dealings with others.

This rollercoaster of deep descents and healing possibilities is all part of an intense alchemy that reaches towards the gracious sacred marriage represented by the Shiva and Parvati asteroids conjuncting the benevolent Jupiter in Libra. Jupiter’s association to Ganesh, the most famous and much loved child of Shiva and Parvati, invokes the Divine Child, auspiciously timed to bring love and grace to our own Christmas.